Night of Summer Side – Kimagure Orange Road
…is actually a pretty good OP. I think my at-times lack of enthusiasm for Kimagure Orange Road (I watched it right after Maison Ikkoku, after all) may have colored my initial reaction to the song. The fact that it is accompanied by an almost seizure-inducing stream of visuals in the anime sequence itself doesn’t help things. It’s actually a fairly pleasant song now that I relisten to it out of context. The chorus starts off with this chord progression, if I’m hearing correctly – > G minor, E-Flat Major, F Major, etc. The general progression there is overused sometimes, and can sound a bit cliched when abused. But I have to admit that I didn’t really recognize it when I listened to this song at first, so the composer certainly did a good job with it.
I don’t really know what the words “Night of the Summer Side” means or what the intent of the lyricist was, nor do I care all that much for the background artists who start randomly interjecting with English lyrics.
“Orange Mystery” was the second OP for the series. It’s fairly good as well. However when they start pumping out phrases like “oh baby, baby, tell me that you need me” I start to turn it off. Not really a fan of those kind of lyrics, which I guess bother me more since they’re in English and I understand them fully.
Of course, neither can compare with Kanishimi yo Konnichiwa, pleasant, bittersweet, meaningful, relevant to the story, a perfect compliment to the series it starts. And naturally, it helps to be associated with an anime as great as Maison Ikkoku.
2 responses so far
I love Maison Ikkoku, and I saw it before KOR, but KOR second best or less? Utter blasphemy. KOR has deeper, more complex characters with quite depressing backgrounds, especially Madoka. Even Hikaru has serious family issues that are only hinted at. Kyosuke is as normal as one can be with psychic powers, inasmuch as that isn’t even really what the series is about. The twins are comedy relief, but are more fully differentiated in the manga. Likewise, Akane, plays a bigger part in the manga.
KOR must not be watched once. It must be watched numerous times to catch all of the undertones that serve as commentary on Japanese society. I live in Japan, and each time I watch KOR over again, I recognise something new.
Choose Me from the OVAs is quite excellent, but the best is Kagami no Naka no Actress, which is very much a character profile of Madoka.
…lack of enthusiasm. :/ That’s okay, I have enthusiasm enough for both of us.
I wonder if I have even a chance at debating this with the owner of http://www.orange-road.net ^_^
I don’t want to sound like I didn’t like KOR, since I think it is better than a lot of modern anime, and I thought the ending of the anime series under the tree was one of the greatest moments in anime. However, I do think that Maison Ikkoku was a better story and anime. I think Maison Ikkoku and Touch are really two greats of the 80s, and KOR, while being a good anime, doesn’t quite match them in my mind in terms of depth and satisfaction.
I’ve been to your website, actually, and your devotion to KOR does indeed impress me. But alas, I can only regret to not share it =(